Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism (in German : Nationalsozialismus) was the ideology practiced by the Nazi Party and by Nazi Germany. It is a unique variety of fascism that incorporates biological racism and antisemitism. The ideology was developed first by Anton Drexler and then by Adolf Hitler as a means to draw workers away from communism. Nazism promoted political violence, militarism, and war, it conceived of politics as being a battle, and the Nazis utilized their own military organization the Sturmabteilung for violent attacks upon those who opposed particularly communists, jews and social democrats. Hitler and Nazis openly promoted German territorial expansionism into Eastern Europe to be Lebensraum (living space).
Key events
1933 January 30, 1933 - Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany a nation with a Jewish population of 566,000. February 22, 1933 - 40,000 SA and SS men are sworn in as auxiliary police. February 27, 1933 - Nazis burn Reichstag building to create crisis atmosphere. February 28, 1933 - Emergency powers granted to Hitler as a result of the Reichstag fire. March 22, 1933 - Nazis open Dachau concentration camp near Munich, to be followed by Buchenwald near Weimar in central Germany, Sachsenhausen near Berlin in northern Germany, and Ravensbrück for women. March 24, 1933 - German Parliament passes Enabling Act giving Hitler dictatorial powers. July 14, 1933 - Nazi Party is declared the only legal party in Germany; Also, Nazis pass Law to strip Jewish immigrants from Poland of their German citizenship. In July- Nazis pass law allowing for forced sterilization of those found by a Hereditary Health Court to have genetic defects. In September - Nazis establish Reich Chamber of Culture, then exclude Jews from the Arts. September 29, 1933- Nazis prohibit Jews from owning land. October 4, 1933- Jews are prohibited from being newspaper editors. November 24, 1933- Nazis pass a Law against Habitual and Dangerous Criminals, which allows beggars, the homeless, alcoholics and the unemployed to be sent to concentration camps. 1934 January 24, 1934- Jews are banned from the German Labor Front. May 17, 1934- Jews not allowed national health insurance. June 30, 1934- The Night of Long Knives occurs as Hitler, Göring and Himmler conduct a purge of the SA (storm trooper) leadership. July 20, 1934 - The SS (Schutzstaffel) is made an independent organization from the SA. July 22, 1934- Jews are prohibited from getting legal qualifications. August 2, 1934 - German President von Hindenburg dies. Hitler becomes Führer. August 19, 1934 - Hitler receives a 90 percent 'Yes' vote from German voters approving his new powers. 1935 May 21, 1935- Nazis ban Jews from serving in the military. June 26, 1935- Nazis pass law allowing forced abortions on women to prevent them from passing on hereditary diseases. August 6, 1935- Nazis force Jewish performers/artists to join Jewish Cultural Unions. September 15, 1935 - Nuremberg Race Laws against Jews decreed. 1936 In March - SS Deathshead division is established to guard concentration camps. March 7, 1936 - Nazis occupy the Rhineland. June 17, 1936 - Heinrich Himmler is appointed chief of the German Police. 1937 In January - Jews are banned from many professional occupations including teaching Germans, and from being accountants or dentists. They are also denied tax reductions and child allowances. 1938 March 12/13, 1938 - Nazi troops enter Austria, which has a population of 200,000 Jews, mainly living in Vienna. Hitler announces Anschluss (union) with Austria. In March - After the Anschluss, the SS is placed in charge of Jewish affairs in Austria with Adolf Eichmann establishing an Office for Jewish Emigration in Vienna. Himmler then establishes Mauthausen concentration camp near Linz. April 26, 1938 - Nazis order Jews to register wealth and property. June 14, 1938 - Nazis order Jewish-owned businesses to register. July 6, 1938 - Nazis prohibited Jews from trading and providing a variety of specified commercial services. July 23, 1938 - Nazis order Jews over age 15 to apply for identity cards from the police, to be shown on demand to any police officer. July 25, 1938 - Jewish doctors prohibited by law from practicing medicine. August 11, 1938 - Nazis destroy the synagogue in Nuremberg. August 17, 1938 - Nazis require Jewish women to add Sarah and men to add Israel to their names on all legal documents including passports. September 27, 1938 - Jews are prohibited from all legal practices. October 5, 1938 - Law requires Jewish passports to be stamped with a large red "J." October 15, 1938 - Nazi troops occupy the Sudetenland. January 30, 1939 - Hitler threatens Jews during Reichstag speech. October 28, 1938 - Nazis arrest 17,000 Jews of Polish nationality living in Germany, then expel them back to Poland which refuses them entry, leaving them in 'No-Man's Land' near the Polish border for several months. November 15, 1938 - Jewish pupils are expelled from all non-Jewish German schools. 1939 February 21, 1939 - Nazis force Jews to hand over all gold and silver items. March 15/16 - Nazi troops seize Czechoslovakia (Jewish pop. 350,000). In May - The St. Louis, a ship crowded with 930 Jewish refugees, is turned away by Cuba, the United States and other countries and returns to Europe. .July 4, 1939 - German Jews denied the right to hold government jobs.September 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland (Jewish pop. 3.35 million, the largest in Europe). Beginning of SS activity in Poland. September 1, 1939 - Jews in Germany are forbidden to be outdoors after 8 p.m. in winter and 9 p.m. in summer. September 3, 1939 - Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. September 4, 1939 - Warsaw is cut off by the German Army. September 17, 1939 - Soviet troops invade eastern Poland. September 23, 1939 - German Jews are forbidden to own wireless (radio) sets. September 29, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets divide up Poland. Over two million Jews reside in Nazi controlled areas, leaving 1.3 million in the Soviet area. October 6, 1939 - Proclamation by Hitler on the isolation of Jews. October 12, 1939 - Evacuation of Jews from Vienna. November 23, 1939 - Yellow stars required to be worn by Polish Jews over age 10. 1940 January 25, 1940 - Nazis choose the town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) in Poland near Krakow as the site of a new concentration camp. May 1, 1940 - Rudolf Höss is chosen to be kommandant of Auschwitz.April 9, 1940 - Nazis invade Denmark (Jewish pop. 8,000) and Norway (Jewish pop. 2,000). May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France (Jewish pop. 350,000), Belgium (Jewish pop. 65,000), Holland (Jewish pop. 140,000), and Luxembourg (Jewish pop. 3,500). June 14, 1940 - Paris is occupied by the Nazis. July 17, 1940 - The first anti-Jewish measures are taken in Vichy France. August 8, 1940 - Romania introduces anti-Jewish measures restricting education and employment, then later begins "Romanianization" of Jewish businesses. September 27, 1940 - Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan. October 3, 1940 - Vichy France passes its own version of the Nuremberg Laws. October 7, 1940 - Nazis invade Romania (Jewish pop. 34,000). October 22, 1940 - Deportation of 29,000 German Jews from Baden, the Saar, and Alsace-Lorraine into Vichy France. In November - Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia become Nazi Allies. 1941 In 1941 - Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, states, "I ask nothing of the Jews except that they should disappear." In January - Quote from Nazi newspaper, Der Stürmer, published by Julius Streicher - "Now judgment has begun and it will reach its conclusion only when knowledge of the Jews has been erased from the earth." March 2, 1941 - Nazis occupy Bulgaria (Jewish pop. 50,000). March 7, 1941 - German Jews ordered into forced labor. April 6, 1941 - Nazis invade Yugoslavia (Jewish pop. 75,000) and Greece (Jewish pop. 77,000). May 14, 1941 - 3,600 Jews arrested in Paris. June 22, 1941 - Nazis invade Russia (Jewish pop. 3 million). June 29/30 - Romanian troops conduct a pogrom against Jews in the town of Jassy, killing 10,000. July 17, 1941 - Nazi racial 'philosopher' Alfred Rosenberg is appointed Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied Territories to administer territories seized from the Soviet Union. In August - Jews in Romania forced into Transnistria. By December, 70,000 perish. August 26, 1941 - The Hungarian Army rounds up 18,000 Jews at Kamenets-Podolsk. September 3, 1941 - The first test use of Zyklon-B gas at Auschwitz. September 1, 1941 - German Jews ordered to wear yellow stars. September 6, 1941 - The Vilna Ghetto is established containing 40,000 Jews. September 17, 1941 - Beginning of general deportation of German Jews. September 19, 1941- Nazis take Kiev. September 27/28 - 23,000 Jews killed at Kamenets-Podolsk, in the Ukraine. September 29/30 - SS Einsatzgruppen murder 33,771 Jews at Babi Yar near Kiev. In October - 35,000 Jews from Odessa shot. October 2, 1941 - Beginning of the German Army drive on Moscow. October 23, 1941 - Nazis forbid emigration of Jews from the Reich. In November - SS Einsatzgruppe B reports a tally of 45,476 Jews killed. December 7, 1941 - Japanese attack United States at Pearl Harbor. The next day the U.S. and Great Britain declare war on Japan. December 8, 1941 - In occupied Poland, near Lodz, Chelmno extermination camp becomes operational. Jews taken there are placed in mobile gas vans and driven to a burial place while carbon monoxide from the engine exhaust is fed into the sealed rear compartment, killing them. The first gassing victims include 5,000 Gypsies who had been deported from the Reich to Lodz. December 11, 1941 - Hitler declares war on the United States. President Roosevelt then asks Congress for a declaration of war on Germany saying, "Never before has there been a greater challenge to life, liberty and civilization." The U.S.A. then enters the war in Europe and will concentrate nearly 90 percent of its military resources to defeat Hitler. December 12, 1941 - The ship "Struma" leaves Romania for Palestine carrying 769 Jews but is later denied permission by British authorities to allow the passengers to disembark. In February 1942, it sails back into the Black Sea where it is intercepted by a Russian submarine and sunk as an "enemy target." December 16, 1941 - During a cabinet meeting, Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, states - "Gentlemen, I must ask you to rid yourselves of all feeling of pity. We must annihilate the Jews wherever we find them and wherever it is possible in order to maintain there the structure of the Reich as a whole..." 1942 In January - Mass killings of Jews using Zyklon-B (gas) begin at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Bunker I (the red farmhouse) in Birkenau with the bodies being buried in mass graves in a nearby meadow. January 31, 1942 - SS Einsatzgruppe A reports a tally of 229,052 Jews killed. In March - In occupied Poland, Belzec extermination camp becomes operational. The camp is fitted with permanent gas chambers using carbon monoxide piped in from engines placed outside the chamber, but will later substitute Zyklon-B. March 17, 1942 - The deportation of Jews from Lublin to Belzec. March 24, 1942 - The start of deportation of Slovak Jews to Auschwitz.
March 30, 1942 - First trainloads of Jews from Paris arrive at Auschwitz.
March 27, 1942 - The start of deportation of French Jews to Auschwitz.In April - First transports of Jews arrive at Majdanek. April 20, 1942 - German Jews are banned from using public transportation. In May - In occupied Poland, Sobibor extermination camp becomes operational. The camp is fitted with three gas chambers using carbon monoxide piped in from engines, but will later substitute Zyklon-B. May 18, 1942 -The New York Times reports on an inside page that Nazis have machine-gunned over 100,000 Jews in the Baltic states, 100,000 in Poland and twice as many in western Russia. May 27, 1942 - SS leader Heydrich is mortally wounded by Czech Underground agents. June 1, 1942 - Jews in France, Holland, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia, Romania ordered to wear yellow stars. June 4, 1942 - Heydrich dies of his wounds. June 5, 1942 - SS report 97,000 persons have been "processed" in mobile gas vans. June 30, 1942 - At Auschwitz, a second gas chamber, Bunker II (the white farmhouse), is made operational at Birkenau due to the number of Jews arriving. June 30 and July 2 -The New York Times reports via the London Daily Telegraph that over 1,000,000 Jews have already been killed by Nazis. Summer - Swiss representatives of the World Jewish Congress receive information from a German industrialist regarding the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews. They then pass the information on to London and Washington. July 7, 1942 - Himmler grants permission for sterilization experiments at Auschwitz. July 14, 1942 - Beginning of deportation of Dutch Jews to Auschwitz. July 16/17 - 12,887 Jews of Paris are rounded up and sent to Drancy Internment Camp located outside the city. A total of approximately 74,000 Jews, including 11,000 children, will eventually be transported from Drancy to Auschwitz, Majdanek and Sobibor. July 17/18 - Himmler visits Auschwitz-Birkenau for two days, inspecting all ongoing construction and expansion, then observes the extermination process from start to finish as two trainloads of Jews arrive from Holland. Kommandant Höss is then promoted. Construction includes four large gas chamber/crematories. July 19, 1942 - Himmler orders Operation Reinhard, mass deportations of Jews in Poland to extermination camps. July 23, 1942 - Treblinka extermination camp opened in occupied Poland, east of Warsaw. The camp is fitted with two buildings containing 10 gas chambers, each holding 200 persons. Carbon monoxide gas is piped in from engines placed outside the chamber, but Zyklon-B will later be substituted. Bodies are burned in open pits. In August - The start of deportations of Croatian Jews to Auschwitz. August 23, 1942 - Beginning of German Army attack on Stalingrad in Russia. August 26-28 - 7,000 Jews arrested in unoccupied France. September 9, 1942 - Open pit burning of bodies begins at Auschwitz in place of burial. The decision is made to dig up and burn those already buried, 107,000 corpses, to prevent fouling of ground water. September 18, 1942 - Reduction of food rations for Jews in Germany. September 26, 1942 - SS begins cashing in possessions and valuables of Jews from Auschwitz and Majdanek. German banknotes are sent to the Reichs Bank. Foreign currency, gold, jewels and other valuables are sent to SS Headquarters of the Economic Administration. Watches, clocks and pens are distributed to troops at the front. Clothing is distributed to German families. By February 1943, over 800 boxcars of confiscated goods will have left Auschwitz. October 14, 1942 - Mass killing of Jews from Mizocz Ghetto in the Ukraine. October 25, 1942 - Deportations of Jews from Norway to Auschwitz begin. October 28, 1942 - The first transport from Theresienstadt arrives at Auschwitz. In November - The mass killing of 170,000 Jews in the area of Bialystok. December 10, 1942 - The first transport of Jews from Germany arrives at Auschwitz. In December - Exterminations at Belzec cease after an estimated 600,000 Jews have been murdered. The camp is then dismantled, plowed over and planted. December 17, 1942 - British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of Commons the Nazis are "now carrying into effect Hitler's oft repeated intention to exterminate the Jewish people of Europe." The U.S. declares those crimes will be avenged. December 28, 1942 - Sterilization experiments on women at Birkenau begin.
Political/Social Goals
Nazism had many different goals. A main one was to end the treaty of Versailles and with that end extreme poverty in Germany and bring Germany to a higher level again and make it stronger. In the late 1920ies and early 30ies, Nazism focused on receiving power over Germany in which they succeeded. They gained more and more power by having more and more people voting for them. The Nazi party in Germany simply knew how to manipulate the population and make it support Nazism. The majority of the German people did not want to continue living under the punishment of the allies via the treaty of Versailles so they voted for the Nazi party which promised to them that this would stop. Then there was the idea of the Anschluss, the invasion of Austria by German troops. Austria was considered part of Nazi Germany after the invasion. After that especially Hitler wanted to create the Lebensraum, living space, for the German people by connecting major parts of Europe where German was a main language. This would then be called Gross Deutschland.
Nazi actually just is an abbreviation for National Socialism but it did not really have anything to do with socialism. Nationalism was their main focus. Social goals of the Nazis were heavily influenced by biological racism and extreme nationalism. They had the idea and ideology that the Germans were a superior people to many others and that there were several people who are Untermenschen, meaning that they were a lower class of people. The main people that the Nazis counted as lower people are Jews and Slavs which they literally planned to exterminate. Nazis often considered certain people as Vermin to Germany. Also the Nazis were against mentally or physically disabled people as well as homosexuals. They too were considered to be minor people that had to be destroyed.
Party/form of government
The Nazi party in Germany was the NSDAP, the national socialist German workers party. The party was basically the head of the state and Adolf Hitler as the head of the party, the highest man in the state. He was called the Führer, the leader, and actually was not only the head of the party but a dictator having all power over Germany. Some high ranked people from his party became ministers or received other authorities with a lot of responsibility and power so that the party had all the power over Germany.
Vocabulary
Fascism
Nowadays fascism is a collective name for any anti-liberal and anit-socialst totalitarian ideologies. It is considered to be the same as National Socialism (which has nothing to do with socialism actually).
National Socialism
Nazi is an abbreviation for National Socialism and is often considered to be the same or at least extremely similar to Fascism.
Individualism
Individualism is basically the opposite of dictatorships and fascism. Individualism accepts laws created by government especially when they affect basic human rights such as life, freedom and property.
Socialism
Socialism is an ideology created in the 19th century mainly focusing on the core values of equality, justice and solidarity. According to socialism, the root of inequality and injustice lies in private property of things. Socialism is often used as a synonym to communism which is not really accurate though.
Role in World War II
Nazism was a big factor that contributed to the outbreak of World War 2. Due to Nazism and its spreading in Germany, the treaty of Versailles was broken, the military was built up to one of the biggest armies worldwide, the Rhineland, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland was invaded which eventually lead Britain and France to declare war on Nazi Germany.
Important aspects of what Nazism was responsible for
Genocide of the Jewish population
Many organized war crimes
Partly responsible for the outbreak of World War 2
Dictatorship in Germany for 12 years, minorities suppressed, political enemies put into camps and/or killed
Key events
1933
January 30, 1933 - Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany a nation with a Jewish population of 566,000.
February 22, 1933 - 40,000 SA and SS men are sworn in as auxiliary police.
February 27, 1933 - Nazis burn Reichstag building to create crisis atmosphere.
February 28, 1933 - Emergency powers granted to Hitler as a result of the Reichstag fire.
March 22, 1933 - Nazis open Dachau concentration camp near Munich, to be followed by Buchenwald near Weimar in central Germany, Sachsenhausen near Berlin in northern Germany, and Ravensbrück for women.
March 24, 1933 - German Parliament passes Enabling Act giving Hitler dictatorial powers.
July 14, 1933 - Nazi Party is declared the only legal party in Germany; Also, Nazis pass Law to strip Jewish immigrants from Poland of their German citizenship.
In July - Nazis pass law allowing for forced sterilization of those found by a Hereditary Health Court to have genetic defects.
In September - Nazis establish Reich Chamber of Culture, then exclude Jews from the Arts.
September 29, 1933 - Nazis prohibit Jews from owning land.
October 4, 1933 - Jews are prohibited from being newspaper editors.
November 24, 1933 - Nazis pass a Law against Habitual and Dangerous Criminals, which allows beggars, the homeless, alcoholics and the unemployed to be sent to concentration camps.
1934
January 24, 1934 - Jews are banned from the German Labor Front.
May 17, 1934 - Jews not allowed national health insurance.
June 30, 1934 - The Night of Long Knives occurs as Hitler, Göring and Himmler conduct a purge of the SA (storm trooper) leadership.
July 20, 1934 - The SS (Schutzstaffel) is made an independent organization from the SA.
July 22, 1934 - Jews are prohibited from getting legal qualifications.
August 2, 1934 - German President von Hindenburg dies. Hitler becomes Führer.
August 19, 1934 - Hitler receives a 90 percent 'Yes' vote from German voters approving his new powers.
1935
May 21, 1935 - Nazis ban Jews from serving in the military.
June 26, 1935 - Nazis pass law allowing forced abortions on women to prevent them from passing on hereditary diseases.
August 6, 1935 - Nazis force Jewish performers/artists to join Jewish Cultural Unions.
September 15, 1935 - Nuremberg Race Laws against Jews decreed.
1936
In March - SS Deathshead division is established to guard concentration camps.
March 7, 1936 - Nazis occupy the Rhineland.
June 17, 1936 - Heinrich Himmler is appointed chief of the German Police.
1937
In January - Jews are banned from many professional occupations including teaching Germans, and from being accountants or dentists. They are also denied tax reductions and child allowances.
1938
March 12/13, 1938 - Nazi troops enter Austria, which has a population of 200,000 Jews, mainly living in Vienna. Hitler announces Anschluss (union) with Austria.
In March - After the Anschluss, the SS is placed in charge of Jewish affairs in Austria with Adolf Eichmann establishing an Office for Jewish Emigration in Vienna. Himmler then establishes Mauthausen concentration camp near Linz.
April 26, 1938 - Nazis order Jews to register wealth and property.
June 14, 1938 - Nazis order Jewish-owned businesses to register.
July 6, 1938 - Nazis prohibited Jews from trading and providing a variety of specified commercial services.
July 23, 1938 - Nazis order Jews over age 15 to apply for identity cards from the police, to be shown on demand to any police officer.
July 25, 1938 - Jewish doctors prohibited by law from practicing medicine.
August 11, 1938 - Nazis destroy the synagogue in Nuremberg.
August 17, 1938 - Nazis require Jewish women to add Sarah and men to add Israel to their names on all legal documents including passports.
September 27, 1938 - Jews are prohibited from all legal practices.
October 5, 1938 - Law requires Jewish passports to be stamped with a large red "J."
October 15, 1938 - Nazi troops occupy the Sudetenland.
January 30, 1939 - Hitler threatens Jews during Reichstag speech.
October 28, 1938 - Nazis arrest 17,000 Jews of Polish nationality living in Germany, then expel them back to Poland which refuses them entry, leaving them in 'No-Man's Land' near the Polish border for several months.
November 15, 1938 - Jewish pupils are expelled from all non-Jewish German schools.
1939
February 21, 1939 - Nazis force Jews to hand over all gold and silver items.
March 15/16 - Nazi troops seize Czechoslovakia (Jewish pop. 350,000).
In May - The St. Louis, a ship crowded with 930 Jewish refugees, is turned away by Cuba, the United States and other countries and returns to Europe.
.July 4, 1939 - German Jews denied the right to hold government jobs.September 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland (Jewish pop. 3.35 million, the largest in Europe). Beginning of SS activity in Poland.
September 1, 1939 - Jews in Germany are forbidden to be outdoors after 8 p.m. in winter and 9 p.m. in summer.
September 3, 1939 - Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.
September 4, 1939 - Warsaw is cut off by the German Army.
September 17, 1939 - Soviet troops invade eastern Poland.
September 23, 1939 - German Jews are forbidden to own wireless (radio) sets.
September 29, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets divide up Poland. Over two million Jews reside in Nazi controlled areas, leaving 1.3 million in the Soviet area.
October 6, 1939 - Proclamation by Hitler on the isolation of Jews.
October 12, 1939 - Evacuation of Jews from Vienna.
November 23, 1939 - Yellow stars required to be worn by Polish Jews over age 10.
1940
January 25, 1940 - Nazis choose the town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) in Poland near Krakow as the site of a new concentration camp.
May 1, 1940 - Rudolf Höss is chosen to be kommandant of Auschwitz.April 9, 1940 - Nazis invade Denmark (Jewish pop. 8,000) and Norway (Jewish pop. 2,000).
May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France (Jewish pop. 350,000), Belgium (Jewish pop. 65,000), Holland (Jewish pop. 140,000), and Luxembourg (Jewish pop. 3,500).
June 14, 1940 - Paris is occupied by the Nazis.
July 17, 1940 - The first anti-Jewish measures are taken in Vichy France.
August 8, 1940 - Romania introduces anti-Jewish measures restricting education and employment, then later begins "Romanianization" of Jewish businesses.
September 27, 1940 - Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan.
October 3, 1940 - Vichy France passes its own version of the Nuremberg Laws.
October 7, 1940 - Nazis invade Romania (Jewish pop. 34,000).
October 22, 1940 - Deportation of 29,000 German Jews from Baden, the Saar, and Alsace-Lorraine into Vichy France.
In November - Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia become Nazi Allies.
1941
In 1941 - Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, states, "I ask nothing of the Jews except that they should disappear."
In January - Quote from Nazi newspaper, Der Stürmer, published by Julius Streicher - "Now judgment has begun and it will reach its conclusion only when knowledge of the Jews has been erased from the earth."
March 2, 1941 - Nazis occupy Bulgaria (Jewish pop. 50,000).
March 7, 1941 - German Jews ordered into forced labor.
April 6, 1941 - Nazis invade Yugoslavia (Jewish pop. 75,000) and Greece (Jewish pop. 77,000).
May 14, 1941 - 3,600 Jews arrested in Paris.
June 22, 1941 - Nazis invade Russia (Jewish pop. 3 million).
June 29/30 - Romanian troops conduct a pogrom against Jews in the town of Jassy, killing 10,000.
July 17, 1941 - Nazi racial 'philosopher' Alfred Rosenberg is appointed Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied Territories to administer territories seized from the Soviet Union.
In August - Jews in Romania forced into Transnistria. By December, 70,000 perish.
August 26, 1941 - The Hungarian Army rounds up 18,000 Jews at Kamenets-Podolsk.
September 3, 1941 - The first test use of Zyklon-B gas at Auschwitz.
September 1, 1941 - German Jews ordered to wear yellow stars.
September 6, 1941 - The Vilna Ghetto is established containing 40,000 Jews.
September 17, 1941 - Beginning of general deportation of German Jews.
September 19, 1941 - Nazis take Kiev.
September 27/28 - 23,000 Jews killed at Kamenets-Podolsk, in the Ukraine.
September 29/30 - SS Einsatzgruppen murder 33,771 Jews at Babi Yar near Kiev.
In October - 35,000 Jews from Odessa shot.
October 2, 1941 - Beginning of the German Army drive on Moscow.
October 23, 1941 - Nazis forbid emigration of Jews from the Reich.
In November - SS Einsatzgruppe B reports a tally of 45,476 Jews killed.
December 7, 1941 - Japanese attack United States at Pearl Harbor. The next day the U.S. and Great Britain declare war on Japan.
December 8, 1941 - In occupied Poland, near Lodz, Chelmno extermination camp becomes operational. Jews taken there are placed in mobile gas vans and driven to a burial place while carbon monoxide from the engine exhaust is fed into the sealed rear compartment, killing them. The first gassing victims include 5,000 Gypsies who had been deported from the Reich to Lodz.
December 11, 1941 - Hitler declares war on the United States. President Roosevelt then asks Congress for a declaration of war on Germany saying, "Never before has there been a greater challenge to life, liberty and civilization." The U.S.A. then enters the war in Europe and will concentrate nearly 90 percent of its military resources to defeat Hitler.
December 12, 1941 - The ship "Struma" leaves Romania for Palestine carrying 769 Jews but is later denied permission by British authorities to allow the passengers to disembark. In February 1942, it sails back into the Black Sea where it is intercepted by a Russian submarine and sunk as an "enemy target."
December 16, 1941 - During a cabinet meeting, Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Poland, states - "Gentlemen, I must ask you to rid yourselves of all feeling of pity. We must annihilate the Jews wherever we find them and wherever it is possible in order to maintain there the structure of the Reich as a whole..."
1942
In January - Mass killings of Jews using Zyklon-B (gas) begin at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Bunker I (the red farmhouse) in Birkenau with the bodies being buried in mass graves in a nearby meadow.
January 31, 1942 - SS Einsatzgruppe A reports a tally of 229,052 Jews killed.
In March - In occupied Poland, Belzec extermination camp becomes operational. The camp is fitted with permanent gas chambers using carbon monoxide piped in from engines placed outside the chamber, but will later substitute Zyklon-B.
March 17, 1942 - The deportation of Jews from Lublin to Belzec.
March 24, 1942 - The start of deportation of Slovak Jews to Auschwitz.
March 30, 1942 - First trainloads of Jews from Paris arrive at Auschwitz.
March 27, 1942 - The start of deportation of French Jews to Auschwitz.In April - First transports of Jews arrive at Majdanek.
April 20, 1942 - German Jews are banned from using public transportation.
In May - In occupied Poland, Sobibor extermination camp becomes operational. The camp is fitted with three gas chambers using carbon monoxide piped in from engines, but will later substitute Zyklon-B.
May 18, 1942 - The New York Times reports on an inside page that Nazis have machine-gunned over 100,000 Jews in the Baltic states, 100,000 in Poland and twice as many in western Russia.
May 27, 1942 - SS leader Heydrich is mortally wounded by Czech Underground agents.
June 1, 1942 - Jews in France, Holland, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia, Romania ordered to wear yellow stars.
June 4, 1942 - Heydrich dies of his wounds.
June 5, 1942 - SS report 97,000 persons have been "processed" in mobile gas vans.
June 30, 1942 - At Auschwitz, a second gas chamber, Bunker II (the white farmhouse), is made operational at Birkenau due to the number of Jews arriving.
June 30 and July 2 - The New York Times reports via the London Daily Telegraph that over 1,000,000 Jews have already been killed by Nazis.
Summer - Swiss representatives of the World Jewish Congress receive information from a German industrialist regarding the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews. They then pass the information on to London and Washington.
July 7, 1942 - Himmler grants permission for sterilization experiments at Auschwitz.
July 14, 1942 - Beginning of deportation of Dutch Jews to Auschwitz.
July 16/17 - 12,887 Jews of Paris are rounded up and sent to Drancy Internment Camp located outside the city. A total of approximately 74,000 Jews, including 11,000 children, will eventually be transported from Drancy to Auschwitz, Majdanek and Sobibor.
July 17/18 - Himmler visits Auschwitz-Birkenau for two days, inspecting all ongoing construction and expansion, then observes the extermination process from start to finish as two trainloads of Jews arrive from Holland. Kommandant Höss is then promoted. Construction includes four large gas chamber/crematories.
July 19, 1942 - Himmler orders Operation Reinhard, mass deportations of Jews in Poland to extermination camps.
July 23, 1942 - Treblinka extermination camp opened in occupied Poland, east of Warsaw. The camp is fitted with two buildings containing 10 gas chambers, each holding 200 persons. Carbon monoxide gas is piped in from engines placed outside the chamber, but Zyklon-B will later be substituted. Bodies are burned in open pits.
In August - The start of deportations of Croatian Jews to Auschwitz.
August 23, 1942 - Beginning of German Army attack on Stalingrad in Russia.
August 26-28 - 7,000 Jews arrested in unoccupied France.
September 9, 1942 - Open pit burning of bodies begins at Auschwitz in place of burial. The decision is made to dig up and burn those already buried, 107,000 corpses, to prevent fouling of ground water.
September 18, 1942 - Reduction of food rations for Jews in Germany.
September 26, 1942 - SS begins cashing in possessions and valuables of Jews from Auschwitz and Majdanek. German banknotes are sent to the Reichs Bank. Foreign currency, gold, jewels and other valuables are sent to SS Headquarters of the Economic Administration. Watches, clocks and pens are distributed to troops at the front. Clothing is distributed to German families. By February 1943, over 800 boxcars of confiscated goods will have left Auschwitz.
October 14, 1942 - Mass killing of Jews from Mizocz Ghetto in the Ukraine.
October 25, 1942 - Deportations of Jews from Norway to Auschwitz begin.
October 28, 1942 - The first transport from Theresienstadt arrives at Auschwitz.
In November - The mass killing of 170,000 Jews in the area of Bialystok.
December 10, 1942 - The first transport of Jews from Germany arrives at Auschwitz.
In December - Exterminations at Belzec cease after an estimated 600,000 Jews have been murdered. The camp is then dismantled, plowed over and planted.
December 17, 1942 - British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of Commons the Nazis are "now carrying into effect Hitler's oft repeated intention to exterminate the Jewish people of Europe." The U.S. declares those crimes will be avenged.
December 28, 1942 - Sterilization experiments on women at Birkenau begin.
Political/Social Goals
Nazism had many different goals. A main one was to end the treaty of Versailles and with that end extreme poverty in Germany and bring Germany to a higher level again and make it stronger. In the late 1920ies and early 30ies, Nazism focused on receiving power over Germany in which they succeeded. They gained more and more power by having more and more people voting for them. The Nazi party in Germany simply knew how to manipulate the population and make it support Nazism. The majority of the German people did not want to continue living under the punishment of the allies via the treaty of Versailles so they voted for the Nazi party which promised to them that this would stop. Then there was the idea of the Anschluss, the invasion of Austria by German troops. Austria was considered part of Nazi Germany after the invasion. After that especially Hitler wanted to create the Lebensraum, living space, for the German people by connecting major parts of Europe where German was a main language. This would then be called Gross Deutschland.
Nazi actually just is an abbreviation for National Socialism but it did not really have anything to do with socialism. Nationalism was their main focus. Social goals of the Nazis were heavily influenced by biological racism and extreme nationalism. They had the idea and ideology that the Germans were a superior people to many others and that there were several people who are Untermenschen, meaning that they were a lower class of people. The main people that the Nazis counted as lower people are Jews and Slavs which they literally planned to exterminate. Nazis often considered certain people as Vermin to Germany. Also the Nazis were against mentally or physically disabled people as well as homosexuals. They too were considered to be minor people that had to be destroyed.
Party/form of government
The Nazi party in Germany was the NSDAP, the national socialist German workers party. The party was basically the head of the state and Adolf Hitler as the head of the party, the highest man in the state. He was called the Führer, the leader, and actually was not only the head of the party but a dictator having all power over Germany. Some high ranked people from his party became ministers or received other authorities with a lot of responsibility and power so that the party had all the power over Germany.
Vocabulary
Fascism
Nowadays fascism is a collective name for any anti-liberal and anit-socialst totalitarian ideologies. It is considered to be the same as National Socialism (which has nothing to do with socialism actually).
National Socialism
Nazi is an abbreviation for National Socialism and is often considered to be the same or at least extremely similar to Fascism.
Individualism
Individualism is basically the opposite of dictatorships and fascism. Individualism accepts laws created by government especially when they affect basic human rights such as life, freedom and property.
Socialism
Socialism is an ideology created in the 19th century mainly focusing on the core values of equality, justice and solidarity. According to socialism, the root of inequality and injustice lies in private property of things. Socialism is often used as a synonym to communism which is not really accurate though.
Role in World War II
Nazism was a big factor that contributed to the outbreak of World War 2. Due to Nazism and its spreading in Germany, the treaty of Versailles was broken, the military was built up to one of the biggest armies worldwide, the Rhineland, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland was invaded which eventually lead Britain and France to declare war on Nazi Germany.
Important aspects of what Nazism was responsible for
Genocide of the Jewish population
Many organized war crimes
Partly responsible for the outbreak of World War 2
Dictatorship in Germany for 12 years, minorities suppressed, political enemies put into camps and/or killed
http://www.dir-info.de/dokumente/def_faschisten.html
[[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss_Österreichs]]
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualismus#Politischer_Individualismus